1900s in Grand Lake Meadows

1900s Passkey

Instructions

Find the answers to the questions on this page to get your 1900s puzzle piece and passkey.
The answers may be found on any of the tabs you see on this page: Historical Map Scans, Animated/Interactive,
What do these images tell us, or 1900s history.
With five correct answers you'll receive your 1900s Passkey and a completed puzzle piece.

Once you've collected all 5 History passkeys and puzzle pieces proceed to the HISTORY PUZZLE page to put all the pieces together

Questions:

Q1. How many hectares (ha) of land were returned to the crown: 553050 5000 116000
Q2. What is associated with the building of CFB Gagetown

Q3. When did the expropriation of lands begin?

Q4. In the 1700s and 1800s the wetlands were called 'unprofitable sunken' land, what are they referred to as now?

Q5: A new alignment of the TransCanada Highway was completed in 1960s True False

Animated/Interactive Maps

(1) Transportation routes:

More roads were built.
A new alignment of the TransCanada Highway (Route 2) in the early 1960s on the eastern bank of St. John River to accomodate the building and infrastructure of CFB Gagetown was completed.

In the late 1900's a 4-lane highway was built connecting Fredericton to Moncton, which cut through Grand Lake Meadows.

(3) Survey Technology:

The maps early in the 1900s (up to ~1939) look very similar to earlier maps. With no legend, title or identification.
The maps from 1989 have a more standardized look to them.
They have title bars, more descriptive information, coordinates, legal disclaimers
Click on the image to see a larger view.

(5) Wetlands

What can we learn about the 1900s in Grand Lake Meadows from these Maps?

(1) Construction of CFB Gagetown & the 'end' of farming

At the beginning of the Cold War (1947) the Canadian government was looking for a location
with land where they could establish a suitable training facility for the Canadian Army.
This location needed to be located relatively close to an all-season Atlantic port as well as railway connections.
The area under consideration was between west of the St. John River between St. John and Fredericton.

At the time, over 900 families inhabited this area. They used the land for: agriculture and forestry.

In the early 1950's the expropriation of lands began.

Expropriation: when a public agency (for example: government)
takes private property for a purpose deemed to be in the public interest,
even though the owner of the property may not be willing to sell it."

Construction of the base facilities for Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Gagetown began in the village of Oromocto.

The Gagetown Military Camp (Camp Gagetown) opened in 1956 and named after the village of Gagetown.

(2) Transportation

A by product of base construction was improved transportation connections:

Railway connections provided by Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railways

New alignment of the TransCanada Highway (Route 2) in the early 1960s on the eastern bank of St. John River

The TransCanada Highway was redesigned in the late 1990's

New highway bridge across the St. John River and the village of Burton

(3)Land Returned to crown

Much of the land in this study area was returned to the Crown (Her Majesty the Queen) or affiliated organizations.

Grand Lake Meadows wetland is made up of land in both Queens and Sunbury Counties. In the series of maps from 1989, RS656-1K/ 146a, 146b, and 146c the lands returned to the crown are found in Sunbury County.

(4) Survey Technology

Advancements in technology have increased the speed of data collection as well as the accuracy. Measurements are typically now made with GPS receivers or total stations.

A Total station is an electronic/optical instrument used in modern surveying. It is integrated with an electronic distance meter (EDM) to measure/read distances between the instrument and a particular point. The instrument measurement is reflected off the prism at the top of the pole, and a distance and angle are calculated for the points.

In the late 1950's surveyors started using Theodolites or transits to measure angles in the horizontal and vertical planes. In the 1960s came the Geodimeter which was able to measure distance using laser technology. Further technological advancements brought the Total Station, and 'robotic' technology - to control the instrument using a remote control.

GPS receivers started to be used near the end of the 1900's, in the 1990's. GPS is a navigation system that provides uses space-based satellites and local GPS receivers to calculate a users location on the earth.